Abstract

We report the design and basic operating characteristics of a co‐axial radio‐frequency discharge carbon dioxide laser which employs a multipass Herriott cell folding system within a linear resonator. A continuous wave laser power output of 65 W was obtained from a device 35 cm in length in a high‐quality TEM00 mode without gas flow. The characteristics of transverse rf discharges and the image rotation properties of such resonators indicate that this approach may be scalable to provide much higher laser powers with excellent transverse mode properties.